Jeff Carter: Mr. Consistency

Prior to signing an 11-year, $58-million contract extension in November, Carter was the focus of every trade rumor surrounding the Flyers. Heated debates frequently occurred last season amongst fans over a rumor that Carter could potentially be dealt to Florida for Panther net minder Tomas Vokoun. When Simon Gagne was dealt this past summer to the Tampa Bay Lightning, a portion of Flyers fans were out-raged that Gagne was dealt instead of Carter.

In addition to trade bait, Carter has always been rumored to enjoy an adult beverage every once in a while. This assumed affinity for partying has caused some individuals to question Carter’s work ethic.

In last night’s rebound win against the Florida Panthers, Carter scored two of the Flyers’ three goals and now has a team leading 32. I started thinking about last season and realized Carter got hot right around this time last year. I decided to look at Carter’s stats to see if I could find any similarities in his numbers and what I found was very interesting.

Following Tuesday night’s game, Jeff Carter has played 67 games this season. He has 32 goals, 28 assists, and has a positive-22 rating.

In 2009-2010, Carter had 32 goals, 26 assists, and was a positive-5 at the 67 game mark.

In 2008-2009, Carter had the best statistical season of his career. At the 67 game mark, he had 38 goals, 31 assists, and was a positive-18. Carter would end the season with 46 goals and 38 assists.

This season, Carter has had 5 two-goal games, one hat trick, and has scored a goal in consecutive games on 9 different occasions. Carter’s longest goal streak occurred from January 13th-January 18th when Carter scored a goal in 4 consecutive games. Carter has yet to go longer than 5-consecutive games without scoring a goal.

In 2009-2010, Carter had 8 two-goal games and scored a goal in consecutive games 11 times. Carter scored a goal in 6-consecutive games, which was his longest streak of the year. Carter’s longest drought was 7 games without a goal.

In 2008-2009, Carter had 14 separate instances where he scored a goal in consecutive games. He scored two goals 8 times and had one hat trick. He scored a goal in 4 consecutive games which was his longest streak of the season and his longest drought was 5-games without a goal.

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As these numbers show, Jeff Carter has very consistently performed for the Flyers. Over the past 3 seasons, Carter has put up at least 30 goals and had it not been for injury in 2009-2010, Carter would have put up 30-30 (goals-assists) over three consecutive years. Lest we forget, Carter was on a tear prior to injuring his foot last season and quite a few analysts thought Carter could have cracked 40 goals had he stayed healthy.

With 13 games remaining, Carter has a legitimate shot at scoring 40 this season. He is putting up numbers that are very similar to his career year in 2008. Here is a list of the Flyers final opponents and where they rank in goals allowed and goals per game average as well as Carter’s performance against them this season:

As you can see, Carter has preformed fairly well against these teams. With the exception of Pittsburgh and Ottawa, Carter has scored a goal against every opponent. 5 of the Flyers final 10 opponents are ranked in the bottom 15 of the league in goals allowed/goals allowed per game. Atlanta, Ottawa, and the New York Islanders are all ranked in the bottom 5 in both categories.

Whether or not Carter reaches 40 is really not important. Carter has displayed that his 11-year contract was a very smart investment by the Flyers organization as Carter has consistently proven that he is a bonified goal scorer. The stats provided above should show that Carter is continually putting up consistent numbers.